Northcote & Bennerley House

Our Pre-school have shown an interest in Dinosaurs, we have supported the children's interest by extending this with small world play, building on their Imagination and Language skills.

We have an opportunity for a qualified practitioner and pre school room leader to join our team.
if you are looking for an exciting new challenge in our preschool nursery please send your CV to [email protected]

We look forward to hearing from you.

Today is the 25th Annual World Book Day!
To celebrate World Book Day today, we have a range of activities based on the children's books and characters we love.
What is your favourite book to read with your family?📚

The Northcote House team on Saturday enjoyed their belated Christmas party and team building activity, at All-Star Lanes bowling.
There was fierce competition with Dean, Poppy and Jeannie winning on each team.

On the 28th of January, we had our environmental health food inspection.

I am pleased to say we have retained our 5-star food hygiene rating.

A big shout out to Dean for all of the fabulous food he cooks, but also for maintaining high standards and practices.

We would love to know who your vote goes to for employee of the month for February.

Please email me or message me on the Famly app, with your name and why you have chosen that person.

Thank you for your support.

The Room of the Month has been awarded to the Toddler Room!

The range of activities they provide is exemplary with a range of stories and home learning.
A highlight was how they incorporated the 7 areas of learning from the books they use for the book of the week.
Well done team.

Love is in the air, the practitioners have been writing down why they love working at Northcote House. The staff have also been treated to a Chocolate Rose by Kelly to thank them for being so fabulous.

We have been talking to the children about Valentine's Day, there have been lots of different discussions and activities. From the children’s voices, they have been asked who they love and have decorated a heart for them that has been put on the tree.

Attention Toddlers parents.

The story of the week for next week is going to be The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf. You can give your child a head start over the weekend by reading the story to them. This will enable your child to be familiar with the story and help them with their language and communication development. Learn the repeated phrases from the story. Then your child can help retell the story during circle time with their key person next week.

The toddler room children have been talking about pets and are very excited as they will be getting a pet fish for their room soon.
Following on from this the practitioners and some of the children went to the pet shop to look at the fish, there were lots of discussions around colours and size of fish.

Fresh air cleans children's lungs.
For young children, physical activity means the opportunity to move around and play with other children. Children tend to be more active when they are outdoors rather than when they are indoors.
The toddler room children went to the park, they enjoyed going down the slide and swinging on the swings.

The children in toddlers have been talking about who they love. Each key person will make a card with their key children.
The children have used a cardboard tube to make prints of love hearts, the practitioners have also spoken to the children giving them the choice of who they would like to give the card to.

Good nutrition is essential during childhood, as it is a time of rapid growth, development and activity. This is also a vital time for healthy tooth development and the prevention of decay. General eating habits and patterns are formed in the first few years of life, today the toddlers went to Bayley and Sage to look at different fruits and vegetables and we brought some Strawberries and Raspberries back to have for a snack.

As part of our Thursday Treats for our staff team, Dean, our Nursery chef has made some delicious handmade Cinnamon rolls.

Outings are an important part of children's learning and development. They are vital if the children are to explore the wider community and to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the world. Today the toddlers went to the flower shop to look at the flowers and brought some plants to plant in the garden later.

Here is an example of some activities that are set out for children to explore, they promote curiosity, imagination and awe and wonder.
What does EYFS say about enabling the environment?
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) (DFE, 2021) defines an enabling environment as one which is rich and varied that supports children's learning and development. It gives the child the confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces.

The Babies and pre toddlers have been mark-making for Chinese New Year, they have been using black paint to make their own marks on the paper.
Painting with young children not only helps their creative development but also stimulates their brains. Stimulating children's brains can also help other areas of their development. Painting allows them to freely express themselves and develop their creativity

Gaining children’s views and capturing their voices is an important part of personal, social and emotional development. At Northcote House, we carry out a termly child association meeting with the pre-school children to discuss their likes, dislike and what they would like in the room.

One of the pre-school children has made Chinese new year cards to share with all of her friends. This year is the year of the Tiger, the pre-school children have been learning all about tigers and have even enjoyed the story of the Tiger who came to tea.

Today the children have been practising their dragon dancing for Chinese New Year. The children have been painting the Dragon over the week.

Thursdays are cooking day👨‍🍳 the toddlers made fruit caterpillars eat for pudding with their tea, they loved using the knives to cut the green & red apples😄🐛

Jim has been nominated by Kelly, the Nursery Manager for the children’s champion award.

Please see attached the link to vote for Jim for the FAMLY children's champion award, every vote counts :)

https://www.famly.co/awards/vote-now?vote=cb674fa678bd9450bdfa59f5fbca02fc9751597153abbcb8c079ce5b51b25732

Place your vote for the Children's Champion 2021 To celebrate the hard work of Early Years professionals across the UK and Ireland, Famly are looking for this year's Children's Champion. Place your vote today!

These are some of the activities set out throughout the day for the children to explore. These activities promote curiosity for the children.

This afternoon the Toddlers continue with the artwork activity using some of the fruits the caterpillar nibbled his way through.

We used apples and pears with red and green paint to make marks on the paper.

🐛Story Of The Week: The Very Hungry Caterpillar🐛

Toddlers have read the very hungry caterpillar today at circle time. We then decided to paint our own caterpillars using green and red paints and tissue roll holders.

The children have been practising using a hammer and banging nails into cardboard, the first step towards using wood. The children enjoyed hitting the nails and using the hammer and we will do more of this leading up to them using blocks f wood and then making things with wood.

The children have been enjoying colour mixing, using the paints in soap dispensers. The children were able to use whatever colours they wanted and we talked about what colour they would make when all mixed together. The children liked using the dispensers to put paint on their paper and mixing the various colours together.

The children have been enjoying playing with the new car park Jim built them. They asked Jim to build one and the children discussed what it would look like, the children and Jim looked on Google for ideas and they chose this design. There are numbers for the parking spaces to encourage their number recognition and sequencing.